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Thursday 25 October 2018

The 1978 Dartmoor Alien Encounter -a warning to researchers



 Above: NO, not an actual alien photograph but from a 1976(?)  public info film "Restricted View"
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I was recently asked by a newspaper reporter about this case as she had found a copy of an article I wrote about it.  I was asked whether I had found out anything more about it?

No, is the simple answer.

I will re-tell the account here but I add one very strong caveat -this report originated from the later Eric Morris of the British UFO Study Centre who admitted to a number of Ufologists, including myself, in the 1990s that he had faked data and reports.  That material and confession is still on file.

On the 3rd June, 1978, Mr and Mrs Andrews, both teetotal, were visiting a public house on the B3357 road on Dartmoor.  I understand the couple were there for a meal.  At around 23:50 hours, Mr Andrews left the pub to visit the gents toilets which were situated out in the yard.  And it was on his way back from the gents that he saw an odd figure described as around 7 feet (2.10m)  tall, wearing a silver, single piece (head-to-toe coverall) suit -and a "matt black" face visor.  Mr Andrews noted that the entity's head size seemed smaller and the neck longer and wider than in humans. This wideness of neck seemed to be in-keeping with the very wide torso. The arms were long and said to stretch down below any possible knee joints.  The entity was simply standing by a wall next to the road.

Despite the unusual look of the entity, Mr Andrews assumed that it must be a lost motorcyclist and asked: "Are you lost?  Can I help you?"  However, there was no response.  Considering that Mr Andrews had gone out to use the toilet facilities the next part of the account seems odd because Mrs Andrews was wondering why her husband was taking so long and so decided to go and look for him.

According to both accounts, as Mrs Andrews exited the public house she found herself "practically standing next to the entity" and her husband shouted to her to join him.  So Mrs Andrews briskly walked to her husband who had, by this time, realised that this was no ordinary person. The entity now moved toward the road and turned to the right, this would take it to the end of the road and onto a bridle path. As the couple realised that this path led onto the moors and, fearing that if this was a normal person then it was no place to get lost on. And so the couple followed but the figure had vanished completely.

The Andrews were quite sure that the entity could not have reached the gate, which it would have had to open to get onto the bridle path.  They were clear that the figure could not have gone in any other direction.

It was a mystifying experience for the couple.  At no time, however, was any object seen in association with this sighting of an entity. A check of AOP Bureau records showed that there had been no reported UFO activity in the area at that time and certainly none on the 2nd or 4th June. A search was carried out to check on wider activity: none coincided with this sighting.

Eric Morris stated that he visited the couple twice and that neither had any knowledge or even passive interest in UFOs. The Andrews' were teetotal Christians puzzled by the event but took it no further.

Tall, silver suited entities featured in quite a few reports from the UK at this time:  some 81 reports feature 5-7 feet (1.5-2.10m) tall entities.  Reports where no objects were seen in association with Alien Entity encounters are not unusual either.  At the time my data base showed that 58 out of 193 CE IIIK cases from the UK featured no "UFO".  Of course, it has been speculated that any "craft" in these cases might be "shielded" from observers in some way.  Entities suddenly vanishing was nothing new.

But there were parts of this I could not make sense of.  Firstly, licensing laws in the UK were strict -public houses in rural areas made them somewhat "flexible".  However, since 1915, in an attempt to stop workers turning up late or still inebriated to carry on War work,  the UK licensing laws had changed very little, with comparatively early closing times. The tradition of the lock-in therefore remained (people put money behind the counter and "after hours" doors were locked so drinking sessions were counted as private parties because people were not paying for drinks after closing). Since the implementation of Licensing Act 2003, premises in England and Wales may apply to extend their opening hours beyond 11 pm, allowing round-the-clock drinking and removing much of the need for lock-ins.

But we are talking 1978 here so just what were two Christian teetotallers doing in a public house?  Firstly, temperance forbids partaking of alcohol or really supporting it -the "evil of drink"- so it seems odd unless they were there for a meal but at 23:50 hrs -almost Mid-night? That is "lock-in" time.  and "lock-in" used to mean just that with patrons using the "house lavvie" -otherwise....you see my point?

It doesn't gel together.  And just why would Mrs Andrews get concerned about the amount of time her husband was gone?  That seemed to indicate a time lapse -how long was Mr Andrews gone?  According to Morris there "were no indicators of missing time in this case" -so what??

What I was unhappy with was the fact that I was promised contact details of the couple several times but never received them.

Did this event even take place?  What was the name of the "public house on Dartmoor"? Did the couple mention the entity to anyone in the pub -did they even go back in?  Were they even "Mr and Mrs Andrews" -if they existed was that a pseudonym?

I hope that, if the couple did mention this event to a family member (I have no idea of the ages of either) we might get some confirmation.

But it is included in the data base with the caveat "Source Eric Morris"

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Addenda.  I can confirm that this case is an Eric Morris hoax.  A person contacted me who had worked with Morris and he (Morris) boasted how along with certain well known ufologists (their names are known to me so this just confirms things) he had "plotted" to make my CE3K Project so inaccurate that I would have wasted decades of work and money.  The fake Alien Symbols allegedly seen during abductions was part of this plan.  Why? Because these people are not ufologists and have, obviously, psychological problems.  This is why I never believe any UK CE3K case reported after 1977 without independent confirmation.
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source:  (1) BUFOSC Intelligence vol. 1  nr. 3, June 1995, pp. 3-4
             (2) Hooper, Terry, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Alien Entity Cases in the UK
                  1900-1984  AOP Bureau Final Report (unpublished)

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